Ab initio and density functional theory study of the electronic structure of rhenium complexes with noninnocent dioxolene ligands: Localized vs delocalized valence states

The dioxolene type ligands (Diox) derived from ortho-quinones are the most widely studied redox noninnocent ligands existing in the dianionic (Cat), anion radical (SQ) or neutral (Q) forms although a highly delocalized electronic structure is also possible. For [ReO(Diox)₂PPh₃]⁻ (2) and [ReCl₃(Diox)PPh₃] (3) complexes, the Re^V-Cat₂ and Re^IV-SQ localized valence states were proposed on the basis of their XRD structures. To understand in detail the electronic structure of these complexes, we performed a series of the all-electron calculations at the DKH2-CASSCF/CASPT2 and DKH2-CASSCF/NEVPT2 levels taking into account scalar relativistic and spin-orbit effects. All calculations predicted that 2 has a singlet ground state with a predominant contribution of a single electronic configuration with doubly occupied molecular orbitals being pure o-quinone LUMOs of both Diox ligands that corresponds to the Re^V-Cat₂ valence state. Complex 3 has a triplet ground state with four electronic configurations contributing mainly into its wavefunction and differing by the occupation of bonding and antibonding combinations of the o-quinone LUMO and rhenium d-AO with nearly equal contributions. This leads to the empirical “metrical oxidation state” of dioxolene ligand being −1 that is usually referred to the Re^IV-SQ oxidation state. However, in fact, the negative charge on the Diox ligand is mainly provided by a pair of electrons on the bonding MO. The standard DFT calculations entirely fail to correctly predict the ground state multiplicity for 3.